Soča Valley, Slovenia: hell over paradise

In Slovenia, nearby the Italian border, there’s a majestic natural beauty between Kobarid and Tolmin calledSočaValley.

WHY GET TO THE SOČA VALLEY?

1) Great place on a budget

Slovenia is really cheap compared to most of the other European countries!

2) Outdoor Sports

Paraglider, rafting, canoe.

3) Relax with nature

Sun tanning on the shore, or floating down the river on an air mattress.

Soca Valley, Slovenia

-Warning! –

Sočaemerald waters make you wish to dive into them, but they are quite freezing.

Picture taken at the right moment

Only true vikings can attempt to have a bath, but just for a while.

The invisible man

4) Soča Valley and its festivals: MetalDays rocks!

Metal, punk, reggae, in july and august.

I went there in occasion of the MetalDays 2014: my boyfriend was playing with HelSlave and I couldn’t miss his concert in such a big festival! Furthermore important metal bands as Opeth and Megadeth were playing in such a beautiful frame:

Soča Valley. between Kobarid and Tolmin

“Hell over Paradise” – Metaldays

The only beach where the bar broadcasts Ozzy Osbourne instead of stupid summer hits

During festivals, the impersonal Tolmin village, becomes full of musicians’ billboard and the bars broadcast the music genre of the respective festival: just metal for us \m/

HOW TO GET TO THE SOČA VALLEY IN SLOVENIA

By car. The nearest airport (Airport of Trieste) is one hour far; another option can be land in Ljubljana, but you will need almost two hours to get in Tolmin. Otherwise by train: the nearest station is Most na Soči , from there you can take a festival-bus that arrives striclty in Tolmin.

OVERNIGHT IN TOLMIN, SOČA VALLEY

Camping is included in festival ticket (daily or weekly), so we settled here.

Festival camp, Tolmin

Only camping lovers will fully appreciate this accomodation: the area is amazing, but is not well-served. You should get accostumed to cold showers and chemical toilets. Paying 10€ a week you can use – for 12 hours a day – proper bathrooms and showers, but they are just too few for thousands of people: more than once, after more than one hour of queue, they ran out of hot water. Furthermore, a wet and sunny day can suddenly turn into a rain apocalypse, and sleeping in a oven surrounded by mud, is not so comfortable.

USEFUL APP – SOČA VALLEY & METALDAYS

I Feel Slovenia-Top 50: It’s the Slovenia touristic website‘s official app. It provides a comprehensive overview about this country’s main attractions (most of them are caves and castles, Ed.) . If you turn on your GPS feature, the app points out also how far the attractions are from your actual position. The most interesting things nearby are theTolmin gorges, where you can get by car.

Metaldays: It offers camping map, and the running order of both stages.

WHAT TO PACK FOR THE SOČA VALLEY

Except the obvious, I would say that a k-way and a pair of waterproof boots are really useful; then don’t underrate the utility of rubber sandals in order to avoid injurying your feet when you wade through the river: the cold water is enough! If you don’t have any of that, you can buy there what you need: Slovenia is really cheap compared to most of the other European countries 😉